18/3/2017 (616) I went to Mahurangi Harbour to see the results of the stormy weather and floods from a week ago. I dive in the harbour mostly for nostalgic reasons, but also for surprises. On a good day there can be plenty of usual nudibranches, sea hares there; I saw seahorses, rare nudibranches and a […]
14/3/2017 (615) The wild weather was over (at least in Auckland) so we packed the car and headed north to Leigh for a dive in the Goat Island marine reserve. The whole beach was covered with rotting kelp … as was the bottom in the shallows. Water had that tea-like tint and it was dirty. […]
1/12/2016 (607) Yesterday dive conditions were a bit of a surprise. The ocean surface was calm, almost flat, yet the water seemed to be very murky. When I jumped into it I realised why. I felt as if I was in a washing machine. Water was moving a lot. Sand and pieces of colourful algae […]
18/11/2016 (604) After a week of rain water was quite murky as expected. However, it got much better further off shore and I realised the swell was a much bigger problem for photography. I was not keen to swim much so even did not cross the channel to Goat Island. I spent most of my […]
5/11/2016 (603) I went for a morning dive, the weather was not very promising, quite heavy showers on my way from Auckland. Also the wind was strong and the long swell at Goat Island was destroying visibility. Once on the beach I could see a group of scuba diving students already swimming to the island. […]
27/10/2016 (602) I did a surface swim to the most eastern point of Goat Island, checked the direction back to the beach with a compass and descended. I’ve spent about half an hour around the rocks in that area, then crossed the channel and got to the beach along the rocky platforms under the marine […]